Thus fell the last prince of the Sky Pirates of Zanadar, and thus I avenged in blood the thousand wrongs done my princess.
She stood against a fallen chair, one hand clenched at her heart, all of her soul in her glorious eyes. I strode forward and swept her into my arms, crushed her to my breast, and drank one superb kiss from her soft, warm lips. Lips that I had kissed ten thousand times in dreams and fancies … lips that I kissed now in living actuality for the first time!
We stood for a long moment thus, wrapped in the warm wonder of our love. The world was very far away and unimportant to us in that timeless moment of rapture. I will not set down here in cold black ink what words we whispered to each other then. Lovers have whispered such precious things since Time’s dawn; I daresay we were not very original.
Then we turned, my arm about her lissome waist, to view the havoc I had wrought. The vanguard of the gladiators had cut their way to the box, and they ringed us about with a wall of steel. Guards lay sprawled in blood-splattered heaps across the benches, which were otherwise largely empty, as the bulk of the citizenry had fled. But guards were boiling out of the entranceways like ants whose nest a meddling giant has crushed. They came hurtling down the steep aisles in grim-faced ranks, to be met by a howling mob of freedom-maddened gladiators.
I turned to Darloona.
“Remain here, my princess,” I commanded. “Here you will be safe.”
Her voice was a husky caress. “And you, my beloved?”
“I must lend my sword to my friends,” I said. “I cannot linger here while they fight and die. It was for friendship of me that they rose in rebellion, and while one of them yet lives, I shall stand by his side.”
I turned from her then to join my comarades.
It was an unequal contest from the outset. Gladiators armed with wooden spears are poorly matched against guardsmen in steel helmets and breastplates, armed with the keen-bladed rapiers of Zanadar. However, we checked their rush and held them with the sheer ferocity of our assault. Men who fight for freedom fight better than men who fight for pay. However true this may be, there were many of them and few of us, and the outcome of the battle was obvious.
For a time we held them. But it could not last.
Ergon plucked at my sleeve and I turned. Battle evidently agreed with him, for his ugly face was cheerful if somewhat battered.
“Jandar―we could fall back to the floor of the arena,” he suggested. “We could retire to the pits below There they could only come at us two at a time. With a handful of gladiators, I could hold the pits till the world grows old … .”
Zantor strode near, his stern face merry, a smile on his grim lips.
“There is much in what you say, friend Ergon,” he said. “But I have a better idea. We could strike through the north gate and reach the shipyards and steal a vessel. My own galley, the Xaxar, is there, impounded under the prince’s seal.”
“Perhaps so,” Ergon grunted. “But who could fly the thing? None of us know aught of such matters, and you alone are not enough to man so huge a craft.”
“No need to fret on that account,” Zantor smiled. “Half my crew went into slavery with me; they served with me among the keraxians; they fight beside us now, in Jandar’s rebellion!”
“Beware―the guards are breaking through!” a loud voice shouted over the tumult.
“Which shall it be, Jandar? Do we fall back to hold the pits―or strike for the shipyards?” demanded Ergon urgently.
But the decision was wrested from my hand by Fate!
A thunderous crash rocked the arena. Glass―glass―glass! It was suddenly everywhere, falling in a jagged rain. One glittering deluge swept the spearhead of the guards’ assault, slashing arms, and gashing throats. Their spearhead crumpled, blunted, broke, and retired in confusion.
A black shadow swept over us. My comrades craned their necks, blinking apprehensively at the sky, and at the fantastic aerial monster that had come shattering down through the crystal dome which sheltered the arena like an enormous bowl.
Of them all, I alone knew there was naught to fear. Tension drained from me, and I laughed aloud, tossing Panchan’s sword up in the air and catching it in my hand.
My friends looked upon my antics with amazement, fearing I had lost my reason. What occasion for joy and laughter could be found in the descent of one of the mighty warships of Zanadar, which even now sank towards us, blotting out the sky?
I grinned, slapping bewildered Ergon on one massive shoulder. For the road of our escape was suddenly open before us.
And the Jalathadar had come at last!
Chapter 14
THE DOOM OF ZANADAR
From the decks of the Jalathadar a withering rain of arrows swept the guardsmen in a barbed hail of death. Their lines broke into clots of fleeing men who were rapidly cut down.
Rope ladders were flung over the side, and I invited my fellow gladiators to clamber aboard. Above, I glimpsed Koja solemnly staring down at me, his great Yathoon whip-sword naked in one hand. At his shoulder, Valkar and Lukor grinned down at me. Swiftly, the gladiators swarmed up over the rail, while the Shondakorian archers stood on the foredeck, alert for a return of the guards in one last, desperate assault.
I had no notion what sequence of accidents could have delayed the arrival of the Jalathadar for so many days, but it could not have come at a more perfect time. Later I would be told how the treacherous Ulthar had crippled the giant ornithopter, how the gale winds had carried the helpless ship far north among the icy peaks of the Frozen Land, how the courage and gallantry of young Tomar had rooted the traitor from his hiding place, and how the crew, laboring desperately, had repaired the crippled flying gear as best they might, and limped back to Zandar. I would learn how the ship had lingered out of sight, waiting for darkness to descend, until the uproar of rebellion in the arena caught the keen eye of a lookout, who spotted my bright thatch of yellow hair and gave the signal to attack.
Zantor touched my arm.
“Let me take my men and strike out for the shipyards, Jandar,” he urged. “If we take swift advantage of this unexpected diversion, we can seize the Xaxar and join you aloft. Two ships will prove better than one, especially if half the flying force of Zanadar follows at our heels, as I doubt not will be the case.”
“Go, then,” I said. “We will do what we can to cover you.” He wrung my hand wordlessly and turned on his heel to marshal his men. A few moments later they were sprinting for the gate. There was no opposition. The guards had lost heart and had fled, leaving the arena in our hands.
Darloona awaited me in the royal box, where the corpse of the slain Prince Thuton lay face down in a pool of congealing gore. I caught the bottom rung of the nearest rope ladder, told her to put her arms around my neck, and climbed swiftly to the rail. As I helped her over the balustrade and stepped down to the deck beside her, a great shout of welcome rang from a hundred throats and more. I glimpsed tears in the eyes of grizzled Haakon, and Valkar’s handsome face was radiant as he knelt to kiss her hand and rose to clap me on the shoulder.
The princess gazed around, smiling at familiar faces.
“Is it possible that you have come all this way to save me?” she murmured faintly. Valkar smiled.
“It was Jandar’s notion that we should refurbish the Sky Pirate craft captured during the attack on Shondakor and stake all on a desperate attempt to breach the defenses of Zanadar to effect your rescue, my princess,” he said. “By the act of a traitor, Jandar was lost from amongst our number. I should have known that he would turn up in time for the final battle!”